Parachute release apparatus



Nov. 7, 1961 R. D. FINKLEA 3,007,658

PARACHUTE RELEASE APPARATUS Filed Sept. 16, 1957 FIG. 2

57 ig-E 6/ 49 E A am mm 77/! l 4 INVENTOR.

F P051597 0. F/A/KZEA BY H44 United States The invention relates to parachutes and more particularly to apparatus for expelling a parachute from its pack.

A basic problem in parachutes for passengers and crews of present day aircraft is storage space for the parachute. Within the limitations of present day technology, little can be done to reduce the weight of the parachute and its canopy since a minimum volume of air must be entrapped by that canopy in order to lower a person safely from a disabled craft. The minimum canopy size is therefore rigidly determined. Since weight cannot be reduced, efforts have been directed toward reducing bulk. However, most bulk reduction methods result in a canopy that is slow to open when the canopy is released from its package container. I have invented a parachute package which utilizes the forces inherent in a parachute packed in a smaller volume to induce rapid opening of the canopy. The package of the invention is considerably smaller than conventional parachute package, opens quickly and eificiently when put to use, and may be manufactured for a price making it economical to carry for a single use.

The invention contemplates a parachute package having an attaching harness, a parachute canopy and suspension lines connecting the harness to the canopy combined with a closab-le container for the canopy and means for suddenly increasing the pressure within the container to open it and expel the canopy therefrom in openable orientation.

The container preferably has a closure member which may be parted from'the container. proper by an increase in pressure. An alternate embodiment encompasses a container with a frangible portion providing an opening for expelling the canopy from the container. The preferred embodiment of the invention has a container of the type described above fastened to a conventional parachute harness. The container itself may be of a greatly reduced size due to the nature of the package of the invention. The canopy, suspension lines and risers of the parachute are folded in proper configuration within the container and then compressed within the container so that the natural resistance of the canopy material to compression exerts a pressure against whatever closure is used inconjunction with the container. The closure is bonded to or associated with the container by means having a binding force which exceeds the outward pressure of the compressed canopy by a small amount. Means for increasing the internal pressure against the closure such as a C cartridge is operable from outside the container by a rip cord.

The inventive concept extends to an embodiment including a pilot parachute. The effectiveness of the conventional pilot parachute is augmented by attaching the pilot parachute to a C0 cartridge so that when the cartridge is fired the internal pressure against the closure increases. The cartridge also acts as a propulsion rocket for the pilot parachute. The pilot parachute is acceleratent ice ated by the rocket effect and therefore tends to string out the main canopy sooner than if the pulling force of the pilot parachute upon the main canopy were derived entirely from the air drag of the pilot parachute.

Further advantages of the invention are described in the following detailed description and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation partly broken away of the preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional elevation illustrating an arrangement for firing a C0 cartridge by means of the rip cord;

FIG. 3 is an alternate embodiment of the invention utilizing a frangible container closure and a pilot parachute;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating the sequence in which the parachutes emerge from the pack; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1, with the closure displaced from the container.

In FIG. 1 a conventional parachute harness 11 having body straps such as straps 12, 13 and 1 4 (which are shown fragmentarily) is fastened to a parachute container 16 by means of a backboard 18 of webbing. A shallow indentation 20 extends around the periphery of the container adjacent the opening. A closure 21 having a flange 22 is secured to the container by a continuous indentation 23. The riser lines such as riser 25 extend from the container through apertures 16A in the end of the container and apertures 21A in the closure. Each aperture 21A overlaps an aperture 16A in the end of the container. The risers are connected at 26 to upper body straps 12 in conventional fashion.

A parachute canopy 28 is folded within container 16. The canopy is restrained by closure 21 which is secured to the closure with sufiicient pressure to restrain the canopy despite the forces acting against the closure because of the compressive loading imposed upon the canopy when it is packed.

A bracket 31 illustrated in larger detail in FIG. 2 retains a compressed gas cartridge 33 and the internal portion of the mechanism necessary for releasing the gas from the cartridge. The bracket has a substantially horizontal upper leg 34 and a downwardly depending leg 35. The bracket is fastened to the container by means of flanges 37, 38 extending normally from legs 34 and 35 respectively, the compressed gas cartridge is further contained by a spring clip 41.

A journal 43 depends downwardly from the under surface of bracket leg 34. The journal provides support for a needle 45 having a disk portion 46 formed integrally therewith. A compression spring 47 resides be tween the disk and a side wall 49 of the container urging the disk and needle toward the punoturable seal (not shown) in the spout 51 of the gas cartridge.

Leg 34 of the bracket has a channel 53 in which a blade 55 resides. The blade is slidable in the channel and intervenes between the disk and the needle journal. An end of the blade is fastened to a pull cord 57 extending through a flexible wire housing 59 to a hand ring 61. When the hand ring is pulled, the wire moves the blade in the channel to free the disk and plunge the needle through the seal of the gas cartridge.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 is adapted to expel a parachute canopy outwardly away from the back of the user. The canopy is compressed into the container with relatively great force. The indent 23 in flange 22 of the closure affords a friction fit with indentation 20 of the container lip. The indentations in the container and the closure may be formed together after the closure is fitted over the loaded container.

Since the closure operates only to contain the compressed canopy, the friction bond between the closure and the container need exceed the outward pressure of the compressed canopy by a very small amount. The friction bond can be regulated by the depth of the indentation. The indentation may be imposed after assembly by a simple rolling process.

In operation, when the rip cord is pulled, the needle punctures the cartridge and the gas escapes and raises the internal pressure of the container. The pressure rise is very rapid and no substantial leakage takes place around the risers since they are of a compressible material and form a substantial seal between the opposed faces of apertures 16A and 21A of the closure and container respectively. The increased gas pressure combines with the expanding forces of the canopy to force the closure from the container and in addition expels the canopy suddenly from the container. The sudden expulsion of the canopy is more effective than conventional parachute release methods which depend entirely on air drag to distend the canopy after it is released from the container. By actually expelling the canopy into the air the canopy fills with air and expands more quickly than by any method heretofore attempted.

The mechanical or frictional bond between the container for the canopy and the container closure may, as pointed out above, be set at any predetermined load factor by correlating the degree of indentation at 23 with the spring back tendencies of the particular materials from which the container and closure are made. High altitude and commensurate low pressure operations may dictate a tighter bond between the closure and container since there the reduced atmosphere affords less opposition to the expanding forces of the compressed canopy. However, it is anticipated that the embodiment described will find its greatest utility in commercial airlines which are universally equipped with pressurized cabins which maintain a relative altitude of about eight or ten thousand feet. Therefore, the pressure differential is great enough so that nothing other than minor adjustments in the bond between container and closure need be made.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate an embodiment of the invention in which the canopy expelled is in different orientation with respect to the parachute user. A container 65 having an upwardly oriented opening 66 contains a parachute canopy 67 compressed within it. The container is secured to a conventional body harness of which leg straps 69 and risers 71 are shown. The canopy is packed so than an apex aperture 73 is located centrally of the upper section of the container. A closure member 75 having a relatively deep flange 77 is disposed about the upwardly oriented opening of the container. An external groove 79 extends completely around the closure member near the juncture of the member with the opening of the container. Preferably, the closure member is of some frangible material which will part along the exterior groove line.

Located centrally within the container is a pilot chute 81. The pilot chute is folded about a rod 82 which extends some distance below the folded edge of the pilot parachute and is attached to a compressed gas cartridge 84. A cylindrical tube 86 encloses the cartridge and is supported by a bracket 88. The bracket also supports a needle journal 91 similar in operation to that of the journal of FIG. 2. A needle 93 is urged by a spring 95 toward the gas cartridge. Motion in that direction is inhibited by a slidable blade 97 connected to a hand ring 99 of a rip cord.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, when the hand ring is pulled and the gas cartridge punctured, the combined pressures of the compressed canopy and the escaping gas break the frangible closure at the point weakened by the external groove. When the closure is removed, the increased internal pressure expels the main canopy from opening 66 of the container at the same time that the pilot chute begins a gas propelled flight through apex aperture 73 of the canopy. The parachute is folded about the pilot chute and its rod so that the pilot parachute may be expelled through the canopy without damage to the canopy. Once the gas cartridge has escaped from the expelled main canopy, a lanyard 101 fixed to the apex of the canopy enables the accelerated pilot parachute to string out the main canopy in the atmosphere.

The effect of the gas propelled pilot parachute increases the rapidity with which the main canopy opens far beyond the effect that the air drag of the pilot parachute by itself would have.

Each of the described embodiments utilizes the inventive concept. Other embodiments are possible within the broad scope of the invention. The invention provides parachute packs which can be furnished to all passengers of aircraft and makes possible descents from lower altitudes, since the canopy opens fully much more rapidly than possible with conventional parachute packs.

I claim:

1. In a parachute package having an attaching harness, a parachute canopy, and suspension lines connecting the canopy to the harness, the combination comprising a closable container into which the canopy is tightly compressed, a pilot parachute in the container attached to the canopy, means carried by the container and operable to increase the pressure within the container so as to open the container and expel the canopy therefrom, means connected to the pilot parachute for accelerating the eX- pulsion of the pilot parachute in unopened condition, and fastening means linking the apex of the canopy and the pilot parachute so that the expulsion of the pilot parachute tends to string out the canopy prior to the opening of the pilot parachute, wherein the means for accelerating the expulsion of the pilot parachute comprises a rod about which the pilot parachute is folded, a compressed gas cartridge attached to an end of the rod remote from the pilot parachute, and mechanical means operable exteriorly of the container for puncturing the cartridge to release the compressed gas from the cartridge.

2. A parachute package comprising a gas impermeable container having an open end, said open end arranged to be disposed in a substantially parallel relation to the back of the body of the user when worn, an attaching body harness fixed to the container, a closure member frictionally bonded to the open end of the container and adapted to be forcibly expelled away from the open end of the container and the body of user, a flexible parachute canopy disposed within the container and having tightly compressed, convoluted folds when the closure member is covering the open end of the container whereby the canopy continuously urges the closure member outwardly from the container in a spring-like fashion, flexible suspension lines connected between the parachute canopy and the body harness, a compressed gas cartridge mounted within the container and attached thereto adjacent the folds of the canopy and having a controllable discharge passage oriented in the container to allow the compressed gas to escape in a direction away from said open end of the container and to allow the escaping gas to freely flow within the container, means mounted in said container adjacent said cartridge for controlling the fiow of the compressed gas from within the cartridge through its discharge passage and normally arranged to maintain the gas within the cartridge, means connected with said control means and extending exteriorly of the container to be operable by the user for actuating the control means to allow the compressed gas to escape from the cartridge whereby the escaping gas rapidly increases the internal 1,189,112 Howorth June 27, 1916 pressure in the container and in combination with the 1,776,629 Kugler Sept. 23, 1930 expansive forces of the canopy forces the closure mem- 1,854,996 Palagonia Apr. 19, 1932 ber from the container and suddenly expels the canopy 1,909,445 Ahola May 16, 1933 from the container. 5 2,399,100 Carr Apr. 23, 1946 2,673,051 Frost Mar. 23, 1954 References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,019,271 Nelson Mar. 5, 1912 10 748,755 Great Britain May 9, 1956 

